To officially begin your adventure, you have to submit an “Intent to Home School” form to your local school board.  First, for the dates that you will be attending, give yourself an entire year, even if you plan to complete your school year in less time.  That way, you are covered if an emergency or other change of plans happens.  You can still complete school in less time without penalty or problem.

Then, I always recommend keeping TWO copies of this form.  One for your records as you do with any important documentation, especially which is legal or submitted to the government.  The second to carry with you.  It is useful in allowing you to take advantage of discounts for teachers.  Sci-Trek, for example, allows teachers free entry.  Most bookstores give a discount to teachers.  You never know when it will come in handy to have that form in your purse or wallet.

 Attendance – The only other item that has to be submitted is monthly attendance forms.   This can be a real hassle, but there is a way to make it easier.  The state is entitled to fine you if these are not submitted in a timely manner, so do not fall behind.  To make it easier, at the beginning of the year, fill out ONE form completely except for the actual days attended, the month, and the date that you submitted it.  So, fill in the address, the year, the names of the children, and SIGN it.  Then make twelve copies.  At the top of each, write the months beginning with your first month of school.  Then file them in a binder.

 The easiest way to submit the attendance form is faxing it in.  If you don’t have a fax in your home, consider getting one when the budget allows it; you’ll find many helpful uses for it.  In the meantime, pre-address 12 envelopes to the local school board and put them in the pocket of the binder.

 Now each month, you simply need to fill in the days that your children attended school at home and send in the form.  If you do not fax it, you will need to make a copy.  Keep a copy in your records.

 A copier is another extremely useful piece of equipment to have when you are home schooling (or simply running a busy home).  Fortunately, they have become much more affordably priced in recent years.  Be sure to get a flat-bed style so that you can copy books.

 You will also need to write an evaluation of your child’s academic progress at the end of the school year.  It’s helpful to keep notes, daily or weekly, either on the computer or in a notebook, of what you have done each day.  This is also helpful should you ever have to prove to a judge that you have been homeschooling.  It’s also helpful to keep samples of your child’s work.  I’ve found it very useful to choose a color, such as green, and always use that color folder for each of my children’s schoolwork that is kept as a record of the year.  I also get an inexpensive folder—the kind that sell for about ten cents and have two pockets inside—and keep the copies of my attendance reports, the year-end evaluation, and any testing that is required.  The testing, by the way is required by the state every three years beginning in the third grade, but you DO NOT submit any testing results to the state.  The year-end evaluation is also for your records only and should NOT be submitted.

 A quick note about the evaluation.  You could also think of it as a report card and report cards with “A” grades can “earn” children free video rentals at Blockbuster and perks at other businesses.  A future post will show some ideas for possible “report cards” or year-end evaluations.

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